Seismic hydraulic fracturing (“fracking” colloquially) is becoming an increasingly important method of producing oil from tight formations. Fracking is the fracturing of rock by a delivering pressurized liquid to a target formation. Typically, water, which is mixed with sand and specialized chemicals, is injected under high pressure into the formation to create small fractures in the rock. The fractures provide pathways for the fluids trapped therein (e.g., oil and gas) to reach the well bore where they can be extracted after the hydraulic pressure is removed. On function of the sand is to block the fractures in an open position after the pressure is removed.
Typically, formation fractures are separated on the order of millimeters when normal forces are applied with high pressure fluid during hydraulic fracturing. Since the hydraulic forces are normal to the plane of the fracture, the hydraulic fracturing operation may or may not successfully induce the fracture to dislocate. The stresses which reside on the fracture interface may not overcome remaining friction cause by non-planar heterogeneity of the fracture plane. Proppants are sometimes used to hold fractures open but are only delivered to fractures large enough to fit the proppant. However, many fractures are never open enough to allow proppant to enter.
As is well known in the hydraulic fracking arts, there has been a need for a system and method that provides a better way to improve the effectiveness of this technique. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventors, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a method of further improving the resulting formation permeability from hydraulic fracturing that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.